Mini Split Air Conditioners: Economical Home Cooling, or Waste of
Money?

Perhaps one of the best products ever invented was the air
conditioner. Nothing beats the luxury of being able to sit inside
on a blistering hot day as the air conditioner bursts forth super
cooled air to chill your home. For many years, our only solution
was the window unit air conditioners. These loud and often quirky
pieces of equipment helped cool you down but were often
inefficient in cooling larger areas. You either had to install
multiple units or deal with part of your house being uncomfortably
warm. Central air conditioners were a great improvement and they
do a fairly effective job at cooling the entire house. Nowadays,
they are fairly standard in many newly build homes. But, there is
a new kid on the block in the world of air conditioners and it is
called the mini split.

A mini split represents an entirely new concept in air
conditioning technology in that they are ductless. The need for
ductless ac looms large as many houses donít have any space for
incorporating the large and bulky duct systems needed for
implementing a traditional central air conditioning system. Try to
modify an existing house that doesnít have space for ducts can be
incredibly expensive and often result in a cumbersome final
design. Mini splits require very little space and are much easier
to install.

While traditional central air systems have one unit inside and one
unit outside that work together to cool air and force it through
the duct system, mini splits feature multiple units throughout the
house. Instead of relying on ducts, mini splits feature
refrigerant lines that run from a single unit outside to each the
additional ones inside. These refrigerant lines cool the air and
the indoor unit distributes the cool air throughout the house.
Some homes can do well with just one unit while other larger
houses may incorporate up to 3 and sometimes even more zones to
full cool the house.

So, while the overall cost can be much cheaper than central air
systems, you do have to content with multiple indoor units. While
they are small, this can be viewed as a negative by some. As far
as cooling economically, however, you arenít likely to find any
negatives here. You see, traditional duct systems can be
incredibly inefficient because the cooled air is forced through a
massive duct system where much of the cooling is lost during its
travel to the register in a particular room. With min splits, the
coolant travels through extremely efficient refrigerant lines
directly to the units that expel the cooled air. Not only will
your mini split cost less to install, your ongoing bills should be
cheaper as well.

If your home is woefully without ac, then taking some time to
investigate mini splits a little more may be just the solution to
your sweat covered brow. In one day, and for less than the cost of
a full central air system, you can be chilling in style thanks to
a newly installed mini split air conditioning system.